Soraya Romano found a career in her passion for yoga. Photo by Sandra Minarik

When Peter Su first arrived in Canada from Hong Kong as a Grade 10 high school student, he found it hard to fit in.

“I was shy, and my English was terrible,” says Su, who now works as a financial adviser in Burnaby, B.C.

“My father and mother thought they could give me a better life in Canada, but I felt angry that I had to leave my friends and especially my grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins in China. I felt like I was struggling to make things work in my new school.”

For six months or so, Su kept his head down and did his best to learn a new language while keeping up with his schoolwork. But he wasn’t happy, and often asked his parents why he couldn’t return “home” to live with extended family.

“I had no social contact with anyone my age at that time, except for during school hours,” he says. “It was very hard, I think, because I was at that age where having friends is quite important. So I felt like I was going nowhere.”

One day, a boy in Su’s math class asked if he would be interested in joining an after-school badminton club. Su, who had played the sport with friends in China, decided to check it out.

“There were so many kids there that I recognized from my classes, but I never talked to them before,” he recalls. “I didn’t have a racket with me that day, but one of the girls lent me her spare … and I jumped right in. I finally felt confident and was having fun. It was like all the hopelessness just melted away.”

From that moment badminton became an important part of Su’s life — and remains so to this day. Though he graduated from high school several years ago, he continues to play weekly with friends at a community centre near his home.

Besides physical activity and fun (not to mention, helping a shy immigrant student to come out of his shell), the sport has given Su something very valuable: love.

“I met my wife at a badminton meet-up and now we are expecting a baby,” he says, excitedly. “I’m certain that when my child is old enough I will bring him or her to badminton, too.”

Though Lena Donetsk did not meet her partner at a knitting class, she can relate to many of Su’s sentiments when it comes to the benefits of participating in an extra-curricular activity as a newcomer.

Three years ago, when Donetsk immigrated to Toronto from her native Ukraine with her husband and their two children, she felt isolated and alone.

“I felt trapped in my home,” says the soft-spoken 42-year-old. “I take care of husband, take care of children, do housework, cook, clean, but I do not work anymore, I do not have friends or family outside to talk to.”

Donetsk, who was a bookkeeper in her homeland and enjoyed a variety of social activities, began to feel dejected despite the rest of her family’s enthusiasm for their new life in Canada. She knew she had to do something to lift her spirits. She decided to try knitting.

“My grandmother showed me a little bit how to knit when I was small, but I did not do it for a long time,” she says. “I wanted to try again, and I think I could maybe learn more English and make new friends at same time.”

On the walk to and from her son and daughter’s elementary school each morning, Donetsk passed by a small wool shop that, she noticed, offered knitting classes to beginners. She signed up for lessons, bought a pair of needles and some yarn, and hoped she would not have too much trouble following the teacher’s instructions.

“My English was so bad, but the teacher was very kind and always showed me what to do,” she says, adding that the other women in the group, some of whom were also immigrants to Canada, were quick to lend her a helping hand when needed.

Donetsk says that her first completed project — a wool hat for her husband — did much more than add a new word (“toque”) to her vocabulary or keep her spouse’s head warm during the cold Canadian winter.

“I make friends, some with struggles like my own, I learn English, I get outside the house and I do something good for myself,” she says. “This makes me a better wife, a better mother, a better person. I now am teaching my daughter how to knit.”

For some immigrants, a hobby can turn into much more than just an enjoyable way to pass the time. When Soraya Romano started practising yoga in Canada, she never imagined it could become a way to support herself financially as well.

Originally from Brazil, Romano immigrated to Vancouver from Sao Paolo in 2002. A lifelong athlete, she immediately started looking for ways to stay active and physically fit in her new home. After capoeira classes proved to be too hard on her body, a friend introduced her to kundalini yoga.

“After my first class I thought, ‘Wow, this isn’t just about the body. It’s also about controlling your mind and your emotions,’” she says. “It was a very interesting experience for me as an immigrant because I always had this feeling that I don’t really belong, that I don’t exactly fit in here. Yoga gave me a space where I knew I could fit in anywhere if I could just fit within myself.”

The practice also helped Romano deal with feelings of homesickness and being “less than” — an issue that some newcomers may struggle with after immigrating to a developed nation like Canada.

“This yoga definitely makes me stronger, physically, mentally and emotionally,” she says. “I am also a lot more confident about myself, especially in dealing with all those barriers that are up against you in a new country, like language and culture. With yoga, you take off all those layers and you realize that, no matter where you come from or how much or how little you have, you are all the same.”

Romano was so dedicated to her yoga practice that, eventually, her instructors encouraged her to attend teacher training. She says the nine-month process, which is akin to a rebirth, changed her life.

“I never wanted to or thought I could be a teacher, but the moment I began taking the course, the doors started opening in front of me,” she says. “I could very clearly tell you about Soraya before [the training] and Soraya after.”

Now a certified instructor, Romano leads yoga classes at various studios throughout the Lower Mainland. But it isn’t just the extra income that’s made her pastime so fulfilling.

“To be able to pass this knowledge on to other people, especially other immigrants who, like myself, may come to class under stress from trying to make a life for themselves in a new place — it’s priceless,” she says. “It’s a huge reward for me, being in Canada and being able to express myself and to teach others. It truly is a beautiful hobby.”

One Response to “Extracurricular activities can help newcomers succeed”

Thank you so much for such a warming-spirited, kind article! It seems to me I am likely to be on the right way^-) As a recent immigrant from Moscow, Russia, I am a sort of volunteer teacher in the IWSO, teaching Art&Craft among everyone who’s interested in diversity of international, multicultural painting and ornamental heritage. I want to express the sincere gratitude to all persons who gave me such a chance – to help people make fun, to reinforce their – and mine as well – creativity and who really inspired me and my new friends for next steps in Canada.